Write your feelings about or reactions to the following individuals who appear in All But My Life. Please respond at anytime during your reading, especially after an especially important event in the memoir:

13 Comments

Gerda herself I can’t believe will go through life like that and be “fine” like she was. Reading the letter from her friend Erika and never hearing from her again, todays kids will be over reacting more than Gerda herself.
A.Caldwell !st hour Durham

1. I like to see that the thought of arthur has kept gerda strong knowing that her brother is safe and is still alive. Gerda loves her brother and I think that if she were to find out he died, she wouldnt be as strong as she id now.

1. Arthur was someone that it seemed could have made a difference in the world. He was a smart guy with a strong will. It shows in his sister.
2. I think that Abek was looking for love during desperate times. I think that he knows that Gerda does not love him, but he is so desperate.
3. Gerda’s mother wants things to be as they were before the war. I think she cares for herself, but she wants her children to live even more.
4. Gerda’s father has the same feelings as her mother. I think he feels bad about his bad arm because he cannot do more for his family.
5. Frau Kugler is a person who appreciates human life. She thinks of the Jews as human beings not animals. I wonder why they were not more people like this.
6. Ilse is ust a young girl whose life has been interupted by the Nazis. She tries to act tough but sometimes it is hard, and she goes to Gerda for support.
7. Suse seems pretty pesimistic and it was probably hard not to be. Gerda keeps saying that the end of the war is near. Suse just does not believe her. Then when the end is near, it seems that it does not matter to Suse anymore.
8. Gerda stays strong. She tries to believe that the end of the war is near, and she tries to keep the others’ spirits high. Gerda was just 15 when the war started and 18 when she was sent to a camp. I am 18 now, and I could not imagine being taken away from my parents and forced to work for nothing. It truly takes a strong individuals to want to live through such hardships.

Abek is the kind of person that I feel kind of sorry for. I do not mean that in a bad way. He only wants someone to love him so he can get through the war. He is not really getting it and is not giving up. But, he kind of needs to go on. He is kind of desperate. Gerda’s dad is a very wise man. That is all I have to say.

My reaction to Gerda’s parents was one of deep respect, for their bravery and courage, to Frau Kugler is that people have a position of power that they can use or abuse, and Kugler was an angel for those girls (it sounds like, anyway) because she utilized her power to help those unfortunate enough to be where they were. Ilse was inspirin in the fact that she placed her friends before her. The gift of the raspberry and the thought of her family in her our of death was truly the act of a person bound for the Kingdom of God.

Arthur seems as if he culd have done so much more with his life. He is string, brave and kind, though above all, intelligent.
Abek is immature, illadaptive and unable to accept that Gerda does not love him.
Gerda’s mother seems to me like she is trying her best to pretend that the war isn’t happening, and that life will go on and be set right if they keep strong.
Gerda’s father seems as if he is a strong man, held down by his bad arm. He might have once been the pillar of the family, thought i feel that in the time before Arthur was taken away, that it was Arthur that stepped up to this position. I believe Gerda’s father knows this.
Frau Kugler, to me, is like a german who does not follow the Nazi regime’s idea of killing the Jewish people of Europe. I hear many stories of German people that helped the Jewish people survive rather than help to kill them. Frau Kugler appears to be that kind of person. An ordinary person doing the decent human thing.
Ilse is much like all other children, even today. Everyone tries to potray the image of self-dependence, however, we all need somebody, something to draw our strength from.
Suse is a person that probably is a lot like many victims of the Holocaust. She reminds me a little of Elie Weisel. She is pesimistic, but I can see why. I think that everyone here would be like Suse if we were the ones being perscuted, tortured, and killed.
Gerda is a remarkable person. Even in the face of death, looking in to the eyes of torment, she remains strong. Hope guides her throught the Holocaust, and in the end, i believe it is hope that saved her.

Everything that was said about everyone in Chris M. blog is very well thought out and somethings that were said is what I would put down. The only thing I don’t believe with most every ones blog is about Abek. I hope everyone has read the whole book and not skip. If you read somethings Abek has done you wouldn’t think somebody in that time would do. Like he had escape his camp and visted her.

i think Gerda and her friends are very strong individuals to have not given up during that time. Ilse and Suse both died, but not by their own hand. Through all their suffering, thy had the opportunity, they could have jumped into the electric fence, ran out into the open where they would have been shot, or other means, but they didnt give up. So many people give today for simple things, like life is too hard, when they have a roof over their head, food on their table, or they lost a boyfriend/girlfriend. Gerda, and all the people in the Holocaust lost their whole family, their life, and they never gave up.

I absolutely loved Ilse in this book. It amazed me how wonderful she was to Gerda throughout the book even when she didn’t need to be. How she was always there for her even when things seemed so impossible to live through. That love and friendship is really what kept Gerda going throught her experience in this book. ~Marietta

When reading this novel, all I wanted to do was cry. Her portrayal through this time in her life is phenomenal and a harsh reality check to those who have been living under a rock. I feel for her considering that she has none of her immediate family left. Her brother, the first one sent off, was probably the most difficult death to deal with for her, because she respected him and looked up to him. Then, there was the seperation from her mother. She was upset and terrified, and we know this because she jumped out of the truck that was taking her off, to go to her mother. Luckily a man, who knew she would be killed, lugged her back into the truck, and saved her life.
I love the scene in which Gerda meets Suse, because it gives such hope. It also makes me depressed because these jews did not know the reality of what was going to happen to them. I don’t think any of the supporters of the Nazis, or the Nazis themselves really wanted it to get this bad, but eventually it did, and evil took over. In this case 6 million jews were slaughtered, starved, burned, gassed, and tortured. How Gerda lives her life to this day appals me.
Gerda Weissman Klein is a figure head we should all respect. She didn’t win any election, or create a multi-million dollar business, but she talks about her horrible experience, and often too. She has to go through those feelings everytime she talks. She inspires people everyday to be strong, because she had hope. She shows it all through this book. However, I think her one moment of weakness was when she bought the packet of poison. But who wouldn’t? She didn’t have any control over her life, and when she bought that poison, she was putting her life in her own hands.